Skip to main content

Maverick Ad

Home

Main navigation

  • Home
  • Cover Stories
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Legacy Awards
  • Past Covers
  • Weekly Archive
The Technical Shortcuts You Should Avoid!

Breadcrumb

  • Home
  • The Technical Shortcuts You Should Avoid!
Peter Åstedt
Fri Jun 19, 2020
Peter Åstedt

Yes, every time you see a new superstar they just appear. Or it seems like it. Most of the time they have been around for years. In the industry, you usually hear about the next star a year ahead. Before it was usually three years ahead, but things are going faster without internets no borders. Still, it never happens overnight, and it never happens as fast as you think.

Just a couple of examples. I had a meeting with Avicii:s manger at least two years before he even became big on the DJ market. After he became big there it took at least two to three years before he went on to the normal big pop market. My guess is that I knew the name at least five years before the coolest mainstream started to recognize him.

Halsey, we got from out American record label they where friends with Haley’s manager and they told us she was going somewhere. She just released Badlands and was going well. I guess the mainstream here in Sweden really does not know her yet.

2011 we had a band opening up for our band in New York it was their first NYC gig I think even their first gig out of the state. Really nice people, and now they are famous as HAIM. Took though at least four years after I saw them on in the media.

The new technological things are tempting to use. Right now, everybody is talking TikTok, and yes, they produce a couple of stars. So did Myspace also and Snapchat. Still these new ones are easy since they are relatively easy to cheat on. And cheating is not going to get you a career. There is no way Doja Cat will be as big as the Beatles. My guess Doja Cat is gone in five years.

Why? She came through TikTok, cheating we don’t know it was a new medium and she maybe was really good on it. The Beatles came with “She loves you” after spending two years playing live in Hamburg Germany. They played over 250 nights in the seedy seaport city, and venues often demanded they play four or five hours a night. The shows were not glamorous. That made them live experts and when they got their hit. They knew how to get the audience to listen and also how to make everything work.

Today the average mumble rapper is giving out songs then cheat by buying streams to get to the top chat. Suddenly they get their 15 minutes in the spotlight. They have no live training, no media knowledge and everything they have done can be traced by social media. It is all over before it’s over. You can’t build a sustainable career on these premises.

But all artists just carve that everything goes that fast. Witch is impossible. Even with a world hit, you cannot be booked to all festivals. There is no way you can schedule that many concerts. To just handle the first success, you are doomed to be out for three years to cover them all. Also, that is hard work if you haven’t toured before and are through upon a big stage there is really no chance that you would do that stage justice.

These years that you need to do is called the dog years. You need to learn for a small audience when and the technical difficulties to handle the big stages. That is why tv shows like the voice or x-factor seldom work. Here they put them on the big stage directly and then they go back to the small ones. There is no build-up by knowledge on how to handle your fans or audience.

Right now, I see so many artists just looking for shortcuts in the form of platforms or bad tv formats thinking they can build a career. Cheating is a part of that. Yes, Spotify we know that you can stop cheaters. The likelihood that an unsigned criminal rapper for a suburb in Stockholm has 7 songs on the top fifty charts outdoing Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande's new hit with two songs and Drake is not just plausible. And not that guy has never done a live show and will probably never be able to make it.

No, the shortcuts will not make you a star. The digital things are just new tools that replaced the fan clubs.

Features
Music
Peter Åstedt
Month: May 2025
Picture This! With Tracey Savein May 16
Cashbox Canada Celebrates 18 Years May 16
Cashbox Canada Announces New Column – Picture This! With Tracey Savein May 09
SING! Music Summit Presents a Unique Opportunity to Connect with the Experts of… May 09
First Video Episode Released For Rise And Thrive, Showcasing Real-Life… May 09
TORONTO MUSIC EXPERIENCE PLANS TO OPEN AS A PERMANENT CELEBRATION OF THE… May 09
Attention all Collectors and Aesthetically Attuned Beings! May 02
TORONTO’S 2025 LULAWORLD FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 12 DAYS OF WORLD MUSIC MAGIC May 02
Picture This! With Tracey Savein May 02
Emma Rush Illuminates 19th-Century Guitar Pioneer With “The Life and Times… May 02
Séan McCann Announces “The Great Big Canadian Road Trip" - One Man. One… May 02
Month: Apr 2025
“The New Immersive Van Gogh: Next Chapter” runs to September 1st, 2025 at The… Apr 25
The Tragically Hip Top Forty Countdown Celebrates Ron MacLean Appearance… Apr 25
“Picture This!” with Tracey Savein Apr 25
New Toronto Jazz Festival Shines Spotlight on Local Legends and Rising Stars Apr 25
SING! THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL VOCAL ARTS FESTIVAL RETURNS MAY 24 TO JUNE 2 Apr 25
SOCAN Foundation’s Executive Director Charlie Wall-Andrews Receives Recognition… Apr 11
2x JUNO-Nominated Children's Music Performer Rosalie Moscoe Returns… Apr 11
Pat Silver Inducted into the 2025 FEO Hall of Fame Apr 11
Terry Gomes Offers Up New Album With “Some Chunes” Apr 11

Pagination

  • Current page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
  • Page 7
  • Page 8
  • Page 9
  • …
  • Next page Next ›
  • Last page Last »

CEO/PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF
SANDY GRAHAM

email:sandygrahamemg@gmail.com 

Canadian Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Don Graham
email: dongrahamwriter@gmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada and Global
Lisa Hartt
email: lisahartt87@hotmail.com

Contributing Journalist - Canada 
Michael Williams
email: greydread@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

International Journalists:

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Malin Osth
email: malin@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - Sweden
Jonas Tancred
email: jonas@musicdays.se

Contributing Journalist - USA
Rob Durkee 
email: rockster2746@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Web Developer/Technical Support
Chris Wardman

email: info@chriswardman.com
website: chriswardman.com

Cashbox Cover Design and Graphic Artist
Jain McMillan

email: jainmcmillan@gmail.com

Contributing Photographer 
Tracey Savein - South Paw Productions
southpawproductions@rogers.com

 

 

 

Footer menu

  • Home
  • Features
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Cashbox Archive
  • Issue Archive
  • Past Covers